dumbest rule in sports

[wilt the stilt]

long pants in golf wins. these guys are playing in 100 plus and they have to wear long pants. give me a break.

[JonLP24]

1. I don't think I can top that

My first thought was leaving the bench in the NBA. It is a good rule in theory but it leads to dumb suspensions. Like Reggie Miller during the "Malice at the Palace" when the only thing he was doing was breaking up fights.

[madinmaryland]

2. The designated hitter rule. nt

[El Supremo]

3. Making pitchers bat to stay in the game.

I am soooo tired of hearing NL announcers say after several innings, "due up next inning are Smith, Jones and the pitchers spot." They just assume the pitcher will be pulled and don't even say his name.

[madinmaryland]

4. The game of baseball requires every player to play both offense and defense...

If an offensive or defensive player gets substituted for, they must be removed from the game. End of story.

[El Supremo]

8. Oh, my God.

You're from the early seventies.
Out! Back to the early seventies! Back! There's no place for you here in the future! Get back while you still can!

[Jack Rabbit]

9. The DH is a baseball dystopia

It is a future where we do not want to go.

Moreover, the DH, in fact, is the dumbest rule in sports. It was an attempt to make a baseball exciting (according to the kind of unsophisticated fan who equates high scoring with excitement) than added only half a run per team per game and decimated the cerebral element of baseball.

[getting old in mke]

25. Nice use of Field of Dreams :)

[El Supremo]

26. Thanks. At least somebody got it!

[hughee99]

5. Sorry, it's the second dumbest. The DUMBEST rule is that a male caddy has to wear long pants.

Unless they've changed it since I last looked.

[chelsea0011]

6. Red Auerbach never liked the change that you can't have a jump ball

start every quarter in order to save some time and just have teams rotate the ball out of bounds. He thought there was an important strategy that could lead to a minimum (changed with the three point line) of at least 8 points.

But what is with waving a player off in hockey during a face off?

[Auggie]

7. Allowing the MLB All-Star game to decide

home field advantage in the World Series.

[Iggo]

11. Winner.

[TZ]

17. and corollary to that

allowing the FANS to decide the makeup of the team that plays for home field advantage. If its gonna count, it should be decided by players and coaches

[Auggie]

21. +1

[madinmaryland]

30. Amend that statement to read:

"allowing cboy4 & upton to decide the makeup of the team..."

[TZ]

31. LOL

Are you hoping the Nats sweep the Giants?

[tishaLA]

10. the let in tennis

Just let the serve be good or a fault, for god's sake.

[bluedigger]

12. Whatever all that extra time in soccer is called.

It's stupid.

[JonLP24]

13. Injury time

or stoppage time. When the game is delayed for injuries or substitutions, the clock keeps running. Refs use the time it took to deal w/ injuries, substitution, and other stoppages and tack it onto the end of the half.

I guess the best way to deal with that is to stop the clock (though that would be very unpopular and probably slow the game down) but as it is now, the extra time makes sense.

[bluedigger]

14. Most sports just use injury time outs.

I don't think it would slow the game down - just the opposite. When you have a 30 second injury time out, you have thirty seconds, not "as long as we feel like taking to give our guys a blow".

[JonLP24]

15. It is a penalty

if it is deemed that a player or players are intentionally delaying the game.

I don't get the you have thirty seconds thing. If a player is injured in any other sport, they take as long as necessary to safely remove an injured player from the area of play. I never seen a player seriously injured removed in 30 seconds.

To me it doesn't make much of a difference, if they stop the clock or add it all up at the end, it is still roughly the same amount of game time.

[bluedigger]

16. What about a coach?

Of course, if there is a serious injury play is stopped in all sports until it is resolved, usually. 30 second injury timeouts are usually used for lost contact lenses or broken shoe strings in basketball. Maybe to get a bleeding player off the court and replaced in the AIDs era.

I just think if a competition has a time limit, everyone, including the fans, should know how much time remains. When you combine that with a sport like soccer where matches end in ties often, it makes for some really anticlimactic endings and detracts from the sport.

[JonLP24]

18. I think a coach could

I don't see why not. I'm just not familiar w/ examples of a coach delaying a game since they usually stay on the sidelines.

Personally, it's never been an issue of knowing for me. I know there is going to be extra time and so do the players, when the 90 minutes are up the ref lets everyone know how much time is left.

I understand it would help at the 89th minute knowing if there is 4, 5, or 6 minutes they know there is going to be time and how much time it is when the refs announce it. Disagree it is anti-climatic. Injury time goals are one of the most exciting things that happen in soccer. Like when QPR was leading Manchester City 2-1 then in extra time MC scored 2 injury time goals to win the Premier League. The crowd went insane.

[bluedigger]

19. Meh, I have to disagree.

The reason the crowd went wild was because the championship game was almost over, not because it was "injury time". It's not like a "sudden death" goal, "walk off" homer, or "buzzer beater".

I've probably already spent more time on this thread than I have in a lifetime of enjoying soccer...

[JonLP24]

22. You couldn't be more wrong

The game was played at Manchester City. It wasn't a "championship game" in the sense like a Super Bowl. The Premier League awards the title to the team that finishes the season #1 in the table (standings). They needed a win because Manchester United won their game that day to be champions. Crowds were leaving the game in tears because their team looked like they wouldn't be champions, suddenly in a period of 2 minutes Manchester City scored two injury time goals and after MC went up 3-2, the crowd went wild knowing that their team would be champions. They went wild after the second injury time goal, not because it was almost over.

[charlie and algernon]

20. And don't forget about the US women against Brazil

They scored the equalizer in the stoppage time of EXTRA time, something like the 122nd minute! The latest a goal has ever been scored.

&feature=my_favorites&list=FLThN-Wqen43lrA_gPd8V4VQ

[MrSlayer]

23. The leaping rule in football.

Completely idiotic.

Wearing long pants is not a hardship. I have to wear jeans at my job regardless of how hot it is and I actually work. Hard, physical work. I don't just walk around on the lawn all day and occasionally swing a stick.

[era veteran]

24. The DH rule on the Junior Circuit

[Renew Deal]

27. Baseball players don't wear shorts either

[El Supremo]

28. Oh yeah?

There are some other examples too.

[Renew Deal]

32. Sorry, I mean in modern times.

[JonLP24]

33. Long pants are designed for protection I'd imagine.

The sliding & diving on hard dirt. Same for outdoor manual labor.

Golfers would rarely face exposing their lower legs to hard elements if they were wearing shots I'd imagine.

[Ptah]

29. Run out:

a member of the fielding side has broken or "put down" the wicket with the ball while the nearest batsman was out of his ground; this usually occurs by means of an accurate throw to the wicket while the batsmen are attempting a run, although a batsman can be given out Run out even when he is not attempting a run; he merely needs to be out of his ground.